


Hope

by LadyNikita



Series: The Arcana One-Shots [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25712407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNikita/pseuds/LadyNikita
Summary: Just a quick thing after chapter IX in Julian's route
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak, Asra/Julian Devorak (Past)
Series: The Arcana One-Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883533
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> lmao i wrote a thing

Julian sat alone in a covered booth of the Rowdy Raven, staring in his half-finished salty bitter, as if searching for answers to the urgent questions tugging at the back of his mind. He didn't even acknowledge his surroundings, so enwrapped in thoughts, weighing and turning over the possibility of something he'd never imagined would be possible.  
He should feel happy. He did feel hopeful a little bit; a small, flickering light of hope, even though he had a persisting urge to push it down and suffocate the flame before it grows too big. Because hope was a dangerous thing; something he could not afford to have. And now his whole world was turned upside down with this one belief, one small possibility that everything he'd taught himself to believe was a falsehood.  
That he's not guilty.  
He squeezed his eyes shut, his face rippled with pain, not daring to hope. He chugged the whole drink down his throat and put the empty mug loudly on the table.  
"Rough night?" He heard a voice that wrenched a very vulnerable, very painful part of his heart. A voice he had definitely not expected to hear at this time, in this place and in these circumstances.  
Julian opened his eyes to see the silhouette of a white haired man, staring at him with an inscrutable expression.  
"Can I join you?" Asra asked and, not awaiting the answer, sat beside him, clutching his almost full mug.  
Julian sat back, observing the man take a sip out of the mug, before speaking.  
"Fancy seeing you here," he fidgeted with his mug on the table, turning it in slow circles. "Didn't think you'd venture out into this part of the city."  
"You'd be surprised to know where I did venture," Asra shrugged, but Julian scoffed.  
"I wouldn't know that in the first place now, would I?" He raised his eyebrows. "So uptight, always keeping your business to yourself. If you told me something like this, I'd consider you'd been impersonated!"  
Asra chuckled sadly into his drink.  
"I guess you are sort of accurate."  
Silence fell upon them for a couple of minutes. Julian turned his head to study the magician's face, looking for something that would give away his intentions. But before he found anything, Asra looked at him and spoke up.  
"I know you've been seeing my apprentice for some time," he begun and looked away. "I found that they do hold some feelings towards you."  
Julian pursed his lips and focused on his mug.  
"It's hardly my business, I know, but I care about them, Ilya. I don't want them to get hurt."  
"Well, then, that makes two of us," Julian shrugged.  
Asra observed the man closely. He must have moved his eyepatch an inch; you could see faint red lines of where it had been. And still, you could see the shadow under his eyes, growing darker with each day. Asra noticed this little fact since he last saw him.  
"I feel kind of iffy with the way we left things, Ilya," Asra said, quietly. "I wish the circumstances were different."  
Julian turned to him and locked eyes with his, trying to make sense of the storm inside him.  
"You know you hurt me, right?" He whispered, almost inaudibly, not being able to stop the tears welling up in his eyes. Asra blinked and swallowed, then softly nodded.  
"But you're not without fault either."  
Julian chuckled and turned to stare at the table.  
"Then, I guess we're both terrible at this."  
Asra sighed and finished his drink.  
"MC's not. They're a good person, I think the best I've ever met. And I don't mean that skill-wise only."  
"So you want to protect them from me."  
"No, Ilya," Asra rolled his eyes and put one arm on the back of the booth to directly face Julian. "They don't need protection, that's the point. I want to protect you from your damn self. Don't make the same mistakes you made with me, darling."  
Julian laughed, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.  
"That's the voice that made me fall for you."  
"I know."  
Julian sighed and rubbed his face.  
"You're not really the one to give advice, Asra," he said, squinting. "You've made plenty of mistakes too."  
"I'm not denying that."  
Julian looked him in the eyes again, his face smoothing in seriousness.  
"I'll try my best not to make their choices for them," he whispered heavily. "Even though I can't understand how they can choose me all over again..."  
"You're falling for it again," Asra nudged him. "You know, they said something the other day that resonated with me till now. They said they're helping you because no one else will."  
Julian raised his eyebrows and let out a small chuckle.  
"Well, that's a sad thing to say, nevertheless, true."  
"Not really." Asra put his hand on Julian's shoulder, making him flinch with surprise. "I decided I'm not leaving you. I always thought you're a selfish, hopeless cause but... I don't want them to be right. I don't want you to be all alone. You have MC and... and you have me too. I know we have a painful history, but I do hope we can at least be friends."  
Julian's eyes started to shine. He trembled with hardly covered relief and took a shaky breath before answering.  
"Asra... I'm sorry for the past. I'm sorry for what I did. For what I could have done. I'm glad we can still be friends after this."  
A smile danced on the magician's lips.  
"You're not _always_ at fault, Ilya. Only sometimes. But that's manageable."  
He squeezed his arm and got up. Before Julian could say anything else, Asra was gone.


End file.
